Congrats on your loss, Streudel! I've read this post on and off since you originally started it, and thought I'd add my 2c.
My highest (recorded) weight was 230 and I am 5'6. I lost most of the weight in 2011 and I've maintained since then - already halfway through my 4th year.
I'll tell you, what separates me from the "gained it back" crowd (I've been part of that crowd in the past) isn't a weight loss plan, or even what I eat or how much I exercise - anyone can do that. For me, it's attitude. I
finally know, with every cell of my being, that I can never go back to eating the way I "used to" and still maintain a healthy weight. A lot of people will
say that, but they don't really believe it, they don't live it and thus, they gain it back because they let old (dumb) habits creep back in.
In conjunction with that, I don't make excuses anymore. I gotta say, I cannot stand reading posts that blame weight gain on "my time of the month" or going on birth control pills, starting a new job, breaking up with a partner, etc., etc., etc. That's called
life.
I had total knee replacement this past December (at the ripe old age of 43), and instead of using my surgery as an excuse for the couple of pounds I've put on (which are already coming off!) - I've had to adjust my diet more than usual - can't be active, then I have to reduce my calories. It's that simple. I take part in a total knee replacement forum, also, and it drives me
crazy to read so many people blaming overweightness on their bad knees. If you can't exercise, you have to adjust your diet more. Plain & simple. Fun? No. But that's just how it is.
There are
definitely people on medications or with medical conditions that justifiably prevent them from losing, or make them gain - but I doubt that accounts for very many people.
When I used to let myself try and justify why I gained weight, it was so much easier to just accept it and do nothing about it. The only excuse I have now...I wasn't careful with what I ate and how active I was. If I can't be as active, I have to be even more careful with food. I used to look for all those "hidden reasons" - oh, it's my depression, I'm not motivated, my job sucks, I had a fight with my husband, I went on new medication, I took a business trip and I couldn't stay on my plan... All just excuses!
Those two things have honestly been the biggest two "changes" between this weight loss (and subsequent maintenance) and all my past weight losses (there've been a few). Perhaps it's because I'm older now, more mature and am better able to be honest with myself, I dunno. Just happy I made the changes when I did, my life has been
infinitely better these last 4.5 years!